By Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters) -A coalition of Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit on Tuesday to stop President Donald Trump’s administration from suspending food aid benefits starting on November 1 amid the ongoing U.S. government shutdown.

Attorneys general and governors from 25 states and the District of Columbia filed the lawsuit in Boston federal court after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it would not use $6 billion in contingency funds to pay for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as food stamps.

Democrats and Republicans in Congress have traded blame for the shutdown and for the risk that SNAP benefits, which provide food assistance to more than 41 million low-income Americans, could lapse in November.

The USDA’s shutdown plan had include

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